Philips licenses voice-over-DSL technologies

By Peter Clarke, EE Times
May 31, 2000 (11:47 a.m. EST)

LONDON — Philips Semiconductors has licensed technology for voice-over-digital subscriber line (VoDSL) services from two U.S. companies, Tollbridge Technologies Inc. and CopperCom Corp. Philips will use the technologies in its products and will serve as a semiconductor manufacturing partner for the two companies.

Philips Semiconductors has licensed Tollbridge's VoDSL interface specification, which is used to maintain interoperability with Tollbridge's voice gateway products. In turn, Philips is developing for Tollbridge integrated access device chips for use in customer premises equipment. Philips has also joined Tollbridge's Voice of Broadband Alliance to promote the deployment and interoperability of broadband integrated access devices (IADs) and voice gateway products.

Philips has also licensed CopperCom's VoDSL specification for interoperability with the CopperCom Gateway for use i n its development of a family of single-chip IADs targeted at broadband communications.

"Service providers are clamoring for cost-effective VoDSL solutions and Philips Semiconductors will accelerate widespread deployment of these services to consumers with its IAD-on-a-chip products," said Agnes Imregh, vice president marketing at Tollbridge (Santa Clara, Calif.).

"Philips Semiconductors brings a wealth of design expertise and a tremendous manufacturing capability for high-volume production of semiconductors, and we are pleased to have our technology embedded as part of the solution," said Jennifer Stagnaro vice president of marketing at CopperCom (Santa Clara).

Ed Rocha, general manager of integrated access devices at Philips Semiconductors (Sunnyvale, Calif.), said his company's relationship with Tollbridge "will allow us to create highly integrated semiconductor solutions that give CPE [cu stomer premises equipment] manufacturers faster time-to-market and interoperability with the Tollbridge gateway."

And CopperCom, Rocha said, "has an incredible vision which encompasses a broad scope of the VoDSL market."